eBay Shrs Extend Slide On Morgan Stanley Downgrade

By Eric Savitz

There’s new selling pressure on eBay (EBAY) this morning, after Morgan Stanley’s David Joseph cut his rating on the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight.

“Seller checks and proprietary data indicate that trends deteriorated more than expected in Q3 amid eBay’s ongoing transition in its core marketplace, greater economic sensitivity and poor demand,” he writes in a research note today. Joseph writes that he now expects greater deceleration in global gross merchandise volume in Q3 than previously expected, with a possible year-over-year decline in the U.S. And he also cautions that eBay faces a “challenging holiday season.”

Jospeh also notes that the company’s current issues are likely to linger: he cut estimates not only for Q3 and Q4, but also for 2009. “We have less conviction in eBay’s strategy to transform its core marketplace from an auction-based ‘thrift’ to a transaction-oriented platform that better addresses fixed-price in-season retail,” he writes. Jospeh says he had been thinking that the end of the company’s 3-plus year turnaround would come soon, but that “recent trends are telling us otherwise.”

Joseph cut his Q3 EPS estimate to 40 cents from 42 cents. For Q4, he goes to 48 cents, from 50 cents. And for 2009, he goes to $1.91, from $2.04.

Meanwhile, Pacific Crest’s Steve Weinstein this morning writes in a note that Q3 should be in line with his estimate of $2.16 billion in revenue and EPS of 41 cents a share. But he also observes that Q3 listings in the U.S. marketplace were below expectations. And he says international monetization seems to be deteriorating due to the weakening economy, the adverse effect of exchange rates and aggressive promotions in some countries, especially Germany and the U.K. His advice: “remains on the sidelines.”

Add a Comment

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers. Please comply with our guidelines. Our blogs do not require the use of your real name.

Comment

There are 29 comments

OCTOBER 2, 2008 9:59 A.M.

Anonymous wrote:

unbelievable. Just right after they get bailed out (pending on the house) those analyst get out of their holes again and continue their dirty games. Yesterday it was GS on Mittal Steel (MT). Today MS: get this folks: this clown - David Joseph - cut his rating on the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. ... excuse me: FROM OVERWEIGHT to equal weight - lol. Where is Cox?

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:02 A.M.

Fred wrote:

Full disclosure - David Joseph used to be eBay's head of investor relations.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:16 A.M.

Anonymous wrote:

Analysts are still the scum of the Earth.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:29 A.M.

FeeBay wrote:

Downturn is no suprise after all the ridiculous changes eBay has forced sellers as well as buyers to either except or leave eBay altogether.. After turning feedback into a one-way useless totally innacurate tool, inplimenting the ridiculous DSR system, forcing buyers and sellers to use PayPal ONLY, raising fees to a ridiculous level, as well as non-existant customer service department, what did they expect??? Donahoe had the nerve to refer to the mountain of complaints as "NOISE". I guess he's now having trouble turning the volume down.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:30 A.M.

Anonymous 2 wrote:

Merril says trends are troubling! I wonder how many millions of shares they SHORTED YESTERDAY?
I agree...Analysts play dirty games. Short selling is a big problem on wall street. The ban on shortselling has been extended as of this morning and hence the big drop in eBay stock! Merril has shorted this stock and will cash in. They need to outlaw short selling! No one should profit from short-selling!

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:30 A.M.

RedBaron wrote:

Anon: You should have sold it, when I told you to! Ebay is in the crapper because they have a dumb strategy that is dommed to failure. That, and the economy.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 10:40 A.M.

annapalachia wrote:

READ COMMENT BY FEEBAY BELOW.AFTER THIS PAYPAL REQUIREMENT END OF OCTOBER MANY ANTIQUES LISTERS WILL BE LEAVING(ME INCLUDED)!!! BUT ITS JUST NOISE!!

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:07 A.M.

EMC wrote:

Don't let this extreme market volatility affect you in such manner...
As you probably know, the opportunity of buying shares of a company like Ebay at 3 times Price/Sales or at a PE of 12 (2009 estimates) is probably UNIQUE. So, don't worry about market trends or economic cicles right now and think that people is going to begin looking for second hand products, due to the financial problems they have and it's cheaper price.So,
Ebay is going to rebound... don't know when, but it will happen.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:08 A.M.

toejam wrote:

Let's face it. No one in their right mind will do business on a site that deliberately hides your product from potential buyers, and forces sellers to make frequent unreasonable make work updates to their listings.

Now they will be forced to accept Paypal only as payment, while having to accept damaging feedback with no recourse whatsoever. "Just keep your mouth shut and pay us."

Sound familiar? Take your pick. The Government or the Mafia. Same thing, but the Mafia doesn't lie to you about where the money is going.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:20 A.M.

pwrsellr wrote:

I am repeating this as I got a lot of positive comments when I first stated it.

Business 101.
1) Lead not follow. Once you are a leader stay a leader. Ebay was a leader. Two-way feedback. Auto Sales. Online Auction Market-Share.
Even in the Olympics, how many athletes lost or almost lost when they looked in the rear-view mirror? Now they are trying to emulate their competition…becoming another of THE SAME…instead of touting their DIFFERENCES and improving on them. Who needs ANOTHER AMAZON???

2) You can try to MAKE people do things or MAKE PEOPLE WANT to do things. Ebay is trying to MAKE buyers come to the site and buy by artificially muzzling sellers [no buyer feedback] and best match [NOT!].
If you go to a flea market and you have Target and Gap only, how many buyers will go? If you go to a flea market and have 1500 sellers with RARE/UNIQUE/ HARD TO FIND/HAND MADE or other choice items YOU CAN’T GET ANYWHERE ELSE how many buyers will WANT TO COME! That’s what Ebay doesn’t get.

3) Buyers have no vested interested in Ebay. They come and go. Sellers DO have a vested interest. They have an INVESTMENT in their business on Ebay. Not as easy to go. So why demean, throttle, kick in the pants and drive away the very sellers who pay Ebay’s bills? Buyers don’t pay Ebay/Paypal fees…sellers do. And sellers are ALSO BUYERS. So you make things difficult for sellers, they won’t buy either.

4) Ebay is trying to become Amazon. There is already an Amazon. We don’t need another one. You don’t wake up one morning and shut the door in the face of your long-time customers/partners, turn the platform upside down with inane rules and regs and non-sensical changes and become something totally different than your business model and expect to succeed. If Wal-Mart decided tonight to become a designer store a la Bllomingdales or Neiman’s at the expense of their core business would they succeed? NO!.. Because they will have alienated their core customers [low income value seekers] and they will not have acquired a rep for their new goal customers [hoity-toits]. Failure waiting to happen. That’s what Ebay is doing and why their stock is at ANOTHER 52 week low as of today. Ebay should take they best of who they are and morph a PART of their business model to emulate the BEST of their competition.

5) Any organization that doesn’t a) offer MEANINGFUL customer service and b) LISTEN to their core customers [Mom + Pop sellers] is destined to fail.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:23 A.M.

charles wrote:

BACK IN FEBRUARY AND EARLIER MY EBAY FEES WERE BETWEEN $700.00 AND $2000.00 A MONTH AND I WAS TICKLED TO DEATH AND WANTED IT TO BE EVEN HIGHER.
NOW-THIS MONTH MY FEES CURRENTLY BELOW $8.OO ( EIGHT DOLLARS )I NEVER HAD IT SO BAD.
INCREASED FEES,THREATS,BUYER FRAUD RUNS RAMPANT.I NO LONGER CARE TO SELL ON EBAY AFTER NINE YEARS OF PROSPERITY. EBAY AND S..T HAS HIT THE FAN

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:28 A.M.

pj wrote:

Yes, people will be selling their items, because of a poor economy, BUT THE REAL SADNESS IS IT WON'T BE ON EBAY! Some say Ebay stock is a buy...it's a buy, if you don't mind a company that has completely trampled on it's brand! Ebay has made seller's so upset...that many would cut off their right arm than to do business with Ebay.

With that said, yes, it's a downturn economy...and Ebay's business model, it's management and it's policies are flying in the face of what could have been a complete reversal of fortune - but heck Donahoe has his golden parachute - do the stockholders, employees or sellers have theirs?

OCTOBER 2, 2008 11:48 A.M.

pwrsellr wrote:

In its heyday Ebay used to tout three things: 1) That a winning bid is a CONTRACT between buyer and seller that BOTH had to honor. 2) Whenever there was an issue or a challenge, Ebay would say “we are only a venue” and have no control over the transaction between buyer and seller. 3) That the Ebay site was a "level playing field" between buyers and sellers and between Mom/Pop small sellers and behemoth corporate sellers. All played by the same rules.

Now: A winning bid is a contract that ONLY THE SELLER has to honor. The buyers can demand [and get] any number of concessions from the seller by threatening to leave bad DSR’s…all they have to do is call the seller so there is no MY MESSAGES or email record. Ebay will do nothing. Also we sellers get to LIE about the buyers…all we can leave is POSITIVE FEEDBACK….even if they are unreasonable…even if they ignore payment terms and pay 30 days later when the auction states payment due in 10 days…what’s the point of leaving coddling feedback? We sellers don’t even know when the bidder never pays but leaves negative feedback!

The “we are only a venue” thing…HA! Ebay now controls HOW something is listed, HOW it can be paid for, WHERE the items show up in search, HOW MANY items can be listed [regardless of how many are paid for to be listed} etc. Think of it this way…WHAT LANDLORD of a bricks and mortar retailer tells a retailer what credit cards to accept, what items to sell, and that customers have been complaining so a retailer HAS to allow all students coming in to shop to carry backpacks without being searched. And tells the retailer how much they can charge for shipping and handling. How long before that bricks and mortar retailer moves to a more resonable site…or goes out of business.

In essence, this is what Ebay is doing as a landlord to sellers with these changes.

It is no longer a level playing field: a) Buyers can leave negative and neutral feedback for sellers but sellers cannot inform other sellers by feedback when a buyer cheats them or doesn't honor their committment to the "ebay contract" when making the purchase. Buyers can leave subjective and anonymous DSRs about sellers with impunity sometimes causing sellers to NOT BE ABLE TO LIST FOR 30 DAYS and the buyers can just MAKE UP A REASON to do so. [Ebay gives buyers no parameters [or ultra weak ones] for what the DSR levels mean and how to rate sellers. Getting slammed unfairly by buyers can also make listings unfindable by other buyers through BEST MATCH EVEN THOUGH sellers PAY THE SAME FEES to list their items. b) Small sellers now have different rules and fees from corporate sellers...so the corporate sellers can undercut the Mom and Pops because their fee structure is "enhanced".

So the Mom & Pops sellers can no longer compete and are getting slammed by unscrupulous buyers in DSRs so they are leaving...taking with them the unique cutesy items that made Ebay a fun place to shop for buyers. Without the unique cutesy items, the good buyers are leaving too.

Sellers will leave and won’t buy either. As they go and the Ebay broken and draconian search engine keeps the buyers left from finding their unique treasures…I hope the new management can sleep at night with their handiwork.

And yet Ebay, who cannot field a decent customer service department that CARES that could rid the site of bad sellers AND buyers, spends tons of money changing ITEM pages and MY EBAY 4-5 times a year WHEN IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE CHANGED. BTW when is the last time Amazon changed its pages? Putting klipstick on a pig with these superficial changes doesn't change the fact that it's a pig.

C
You think LAST YEAR'S Ebay Live, which used to be a cult-like positive cheerleading event, was a disaster...wait until THIS YEAR! Ebay may have to PAY sellers to show up to a venue that people were once treating like a Yankees/Red Sox World Series event.

And with all of the above "enhancements" sellers are asked to pay fee increases up to 43% and are now required to use Paypal only...thus eliminating the 20% of buyers who ONLY pay by money order or check. Oh! and as punishment for Ebay's not accepting Google Checkout, EBAY'S searches have been lowered in GOOGLE'S BEST MATCH further hurting sellers AND buyers! Hah!

Ebay will implode.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 12:00 P.M.

rogand-antiques wrote:

Ebay put their own name in the dirt. I say let them reap the consequences. There are enough companies getting bailed out because of management lining their pockets. Ebay is no different. Let 'em drown.

Oh, and by the way, the bailout doesn't stop ceos from getting paid a million dollars a month, it just says you can't have a "golden parachute." And also, who is getting protected by raising the FDIC limit to $250,000.00? Not me, not most of America. Only the fatcats who caused all the problems to begin with.

We're moving from Ebay.com to Bonanzle.com, a new site with growing membership and unique personality and many unique features.

Bonanzle is in core spirit what Ebay once was, a free place, a laissez-faire capitalist venue where buyers and sellers rule their transactions, not the site owners, like Ebay does.

Ebay should try that simple formula some time.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 12:53 P.M.

ebay buyer and seller wrote:

Things go from bad to worse since John Donahoe has become CEO, no one is happy, sellers or buyers. This is not the first time that a leadership change has caused a company to plummet. The difference is that many of the sellers who pay for e bays market share are households that have relied on eBay for part or all of its income and buyers have relied on the sites past policy to make buying easy and to facilitate sellers to bring unique items to the market place. This 13 year trust has been violated and has failed both sellers and buyers in just a few months of unfair, faulty policy change that has taken a ship this size and turned it so fast that it is out of control and is facing a challenge to bring the ship back to course as it was before. This policy change was over a short aggressive period, but the negative impact will make it difficult to navigate back in position. This will prove a challenge that may take years to repair relationships between sellers and buyers when it has been realized by investors concerned.

It should be clear, I am a wholesaler and not a writer or a stock expert, but I have a first hand inside look having been a powerseller for over 10 years, 1.7 million per year sales and account for $156,000 paid to e bay per year for seller fees, this is the bases in which e bay shows profit or loss in a great way, this does not account for paypal fees charged, seller manager pro, e bay stores. It was felt that E bay was a beautiful place before it has crashed and failed not only its buyers, but its sellers. This, although it would seem, at the moment, can be seen by the stock prices offered currently and the downgrades by large investment firms.

E bay has spoken, treated sellers and buyers with disrespect, no conformity in answers received from e bay or policy's, put sellers of 10 years who set our business to service the e bay market in a bad financial strain because of an aggressive unfair policy (which e bay keeps it sellers in the dark how to quantitative it), sellers and buyers have listed and regrettably moving on to something else. These are resourceful business people who will do well marketing for another company. They will be hurt financially in the short term. It should be noted that these sellers are also buyers and I personally buy a few thousand on e bay per year, they will not see another dollar from me. Even if I wanted to, it would be unlikely that what is being searched for could ever be found due to policy changes, and is most likely available at buy.com, Ubid.com Goggle stores (formally known a frugel.com) or Amazon.com. These sites are taking notice and are more than willing to facilitate what customers are asking for. Both knowledgeable sellers and buyers are voting with there buying power.

Anyone considering investing or putting time into future sales may want to take a look at the aggressive policy’s they have put in place (There are little to no direct policy as there has been for the last 10 years) it is now “at there discretion” rather than a written or qualitative policy in many cases. This is making the company policy as un uniform as it has ever been. Even when the rules were written for all to see, there were interpretation issues, however, now it is just up to the person answering the phone or sending the e mail and no room for improvement or debate to better or change. Although communication has always been an issue for E bays customers as well as sellers on message boards complain how hard it is to get in touch with them and when you do no one on the other end seems to be empowered to help or care to do little more than quote out of the corporate handbook offered in form letters and help pages. If you are as lucky as us to have been a powerseller, you can call and sometimes have your call returned within 3-4 business days and hope to be available at the time the call is returned, you can ask the same question to 10 different e bay “officials” and get 10 different answers that do not relate to one another. This is not a speculation, this is based on personal experience as well as discussions with other large sellers. They have turned a blind eye to its sellers and buyers alike. I wouldn't be leaving if there was any good reason to stay.

I admit, service needed to be better, customer service is something that all should be striving to improve, there is a way to do that without destroying the e bay fabric that has worked so well in the past. I have a business to run, so there is not enough time to go into all details of in site, there are many dissatisfied sellers (who drive e bays profit) and dissatisfied buyers (who drive the sellers profit) and it does not take a NBA to fugue out the future.

E bay has done a poor job or emplaning the new changes to its buyers, sellers only after a few months of effect, some loosing there e bay business because of improper, unmonitored data, is still learning and it seems no one knows the answers even at the top account managers level. Its buyers do not realize that the DSR DETAILED SELLER RATING, the 5 stars under the feedback rating is not based on a 100 point scale like every other system in the free world. For example, from 1 to 5, 1 is poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. With e bay, 4,5 is average and 5 is good, I am glad they didn't have my math teachers in Collage. So many times buyers rate a 3 when they don't realize they are giving the seller a unacceptable rating that could potentially suspend his/her account from e bay as so many has been suspended in the last 3 months because of improper data that has been now used as the bible of e bay to rate seller performance. It should also be noted that a flaw in the data of the 5 star DSR is that if a customer is happy, they fell that leaving positive feedback served its purpose and they have caused a positive vote to the seller, e bay has not educated the buyer, so they do not leave a star rating at all, and are not required to and a large % do not, but leave a positive feedback as it is not required. But the buyer who is mad and is leaving hasty feedback will be more than motivated to leave a 1 or 2 for all stars. For this reason, good sellers offering great service and products are being suspended from e bay by record numbers, this cuts the life cord of the seller as well as e bay.

Ebay has ruined their market flair for both buyers and sellers. Too many restricting rule changes, increased charges, paypal demands, seller ratings. This has ultimately destroyed their bottom line.
I was talking to another large seller, he said something that is funny but true, he said "e bay is the only company I know to date that has actually implemented the policy of THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORAL HAS IMPROVED"
Don't think the free bay and its payment system engage in unfair, at the very least unethical or even illegal business practices? Retailers are asking for congress to crack down on organized computer crimes, but eBay, said "they would be unfairly targeted in the proposed legislation" Read article from link below:

Ebay is definitely a stock headed down down down. The Wall Street analyst’s who cover Ebay are finding out what is really going on because the sellers who actually use ebay have been seeing it for the past several years as seen by past message/bogs. This has been especially true in the past 6 months. Anytime a company treats their customers with little or no concern, it’s not a good sign for the future.

There are alternatives to ebay and they are getting stronger everyday while e bay lets it strong sellers go who offer products that drive customers to the site. Many of them showing up to other sites and, yes, drawing e bay customers to competitors site. I have talked to Ubid and Amazon and they say they are seeing a flood of sellers coming over to there site. These are sellers and buyers who were content before, now they are not and are voting with there dollars. This will futher deteriate the system because these buyers and sellers realize that they have relied on a company that has forsaken them. The ones who may come back, if the policy does change to something reasonable for both sellers and buyers like buy.com policy, will remember the bite and the smart ones will keep there selling and buying accounts open for other sites they were forced to by bad customer service and policy.

CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said he could not get behind the company, and that someone should buy the company "and put them out of their misery." That is a big statement in and of itself, however, that with all the negativity on message boards from its sellers and buyers in the past few months should have already grabbed someone's attention at e bay it would seem and some favorable policy changes would have followed already, this didn't come and could come too little too late.

It has been pointed out that CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said to buy, buy, buy at one time, the people who listened did well at that time. He has good in site to this company it would seem. Now I think this Caramer is a voice to listen to as he has made it clear that there is problems now, not anything that large sellers have not already foreseen for the last year.http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com/articles/649789

It is speculated that the Standard & Poors rating will be updating soon, because of e bays unpresidented fast and agressive changes made in the last couple of months have not given any room for changes of amindments of ratings yet, but I will asure you they are coming the changes were simply done so fast and agressive that ratings have not had time to catch up. It would be advisable to keep a close eye on this in a few months when agressive policy changes reach the rating level.

I have a dedicated special interest and hope they turn themselves around, but it is going to take some quick and correct policy change to undo what has been done in what would be considered by many as well as a powerseller account manager spoken to as "the most aggressive change e bay has ever done" it is costing sellers there business, although it is realized that a very few had to go, they are taking the good sellers, some of them my competitors out in the process. Not that I am sad to see some of my competitors go, it is still sad to know that these people have sold on e bay for 5-10 years, know they have adjusted themselves to e bay, the kind of inventory, business plan, warehousing and equipment and 100's of thousands in inventory stuck in the warehouse they cannot sell, all of this done to a veteran of e bay because of policy changes made/implemented over just a few months. This policy change had the company treating its long term sellers and buyers like criminals. Taking away businesses from sellers by the flawed, aggressive policy change unfair to sellers and buyers.
STR is dropping like a rock. The Best Match search is fatally flawed and $0.35 listings are not going to fix that. Buyers can't find anything. Sellers can't sell and are being abused both by eBay with the hateful DSR system, and by bottom feeding scammer/buyers, because there is NO seller protection. The buyers agree to the sellers terms by static link contract when they bid, just as sellers agree to e bay and paypals, but are not held to the policy that is the basics of a fair transaction. The new policy changes has driven off both buyers and sellers alike. It has attracted the wrong kind of buyer and made the site a breading ground for unfair transactions to sellers and buyers. Sellers are paralyzed by policy, sellers own policy has been abused by the new ebay policy changes. There is also NO customer service provided to sellers or buyers by ebay or paypal. Sellers of the unique items that made eBay famous (and who paid listing fees) are leaving in droves, while eBay brokers deals with corporate sellers of new stuff you can get anywhere who don't pay listing fees. And their buyers are following them. Watch the Q3 figures. Better yet, wait until the government finally educates itself on what is going on, that is when you will see investors understand after it is too late. A company of this size can keep up appearances for some time, but its customers, its customers customers, that is sellers and buyers, are speaking up and can not be ignored in the long term, the leader of these policy's are and continue to drive away the core business of e bay. they must answer to its customers and its investors soon. The payment system can only hold them up and serve as a cash cow but for so long.
Almost everyone loved e bay before the policy changes, most feel confident that the company will go back to old policy before it was broken by recent policy. The question many have is when and will it be too late with sellers and buyers leaving by great numbers and competitors making better alternatives available. Many sellers going bankrupt because the unfair aggressive policy change has left them with 1000's to 100's of thousands of inventory cost, warehouse cost and other fixed cost because business has been tailored to e bay for many years. Many great sellers who offered products that drove traffic to the site have been suspended because of the unfair and flawed policy changes. To date, given e bay before it was broken with policy change and leadership change, e bay was the best online selling platform, had market position of a virtual monopoly, but this trend is slowly changing as competition is taking advantage of this situation.

OCTOBER 2, 2008 1:34 P.M.

okknairb wrote:

Full disclosure - David Joseph used to be eBay’s head of investor relations.

Comment by Fred - October 2, 2008 at 10:02 am

--> True, but he still has no clue about eBay or eCommerce in general! Such a pity that an analyst like him works at a top-tier firm...

OCTOBER 2, 2008 2:34 P.M.

rocketman wrote:

Here's some food for thought ?? How does Ebay's partner buy.com maintain a 99.6% positive rating, when they are about 50% at Pricegrabber and other venues. Is there a pot o feedback cooking somewhere ?

OCTOBER 2, 2008 2:47 P.M.

rogand-antiques wrote:

@ROCKETMAN

As I recall ebay made a deal with buy regarding feedback, but I can't recall what it was. Also made some deal regarding fees as well. I wouldn't be surprised at any shady deals ebay made. It's that kind of company.

ELIZABETH BEAL, FORMER DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS LAW CENTRE: I don't think there's any real motivation for eBay to stop fraud. They still benefit from fraudulent sellers because they still collect the fees.

if ebay were serious about offer REAL protection they would also allow online payment methods other then paypal ... say google checkout or POLi for example .......... but not likely is it

EBay has made both buying and selling an absolute nightmare! Changes, Changes, Changes and MORE changes!!! When will it end... Oh and I CAN'T ACCEPT PAPER PAYMENTS????? That's funny the almighty US Dollar clearly states the following... THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. Ebay will find themselves ending millions of listings when that policy goes into effect because I for one REFUSE to edit 1000 listing and remove paper payment verbiage one by one. How greedy this company has become!

OCTOBER 3, 2008 1:20 A.M.

Anonymous wrote:

Recessions are supposed to be boom times for yard sales and flea markets, so what’s eating eBay (the world’s largest bargain bazaar?

I'm CEO Donahoe,
I'm captain, they're the crew.
We're selfish pirate idiots,
That do just what we do.
And, we're just gonna git-er-done,
No matter what you say,
It doesn't have to make no sense,
We'll do it anyway.

The buyers always tell us,
That they like low prices best,
We give ourselves a raise, or two,
And the sellers must take less.
We don't care if it's safe or not,
If we always get our part.
But, cut us out of our percent,
And, we'll cut out your heart.

I'm CEO Donahoe,
I'm captain, they're the crew.
We're educated idiots,
That do just what we do.
And, we're just gonna do it
No matter what you say,
It doesn't have to make sense,
Cause we'll do it anyway.

We all know the sellers work,
Like they care about this job.
We gouge and shove 'em around,
Like every other slob.
We limit what they can charge,
While we raise our prices high,
To ship and handle all went up,
But, we let that thought go by.

I'm CEO Donahoe,
I'm captain, they're the crew.
We're complete and total idiots,
That do just what we do.
And, we're just gonna keep it up,
No matter what you say,
It doesn't have to make sense,
Cause we'll do it anyway.

The payments that you receive,
Must be a kind we trust.
Use any kind you want to,
As long as it's through us.
We show some items to the folks,
And hope you get a bite
Best match always pays us best.
We think it's out-a-site.

I'm CEO Donahoe,
I'm captain, they're the crew.
We're educated idiots,
That do just what we do.
And, we're just gonna git-er-done
No matter what you say,
It doesn't have to make you cents,
We make dollars, anyway.

The internet's our ocean,
And ebay is our ship.
If yer gonna sail with us,
You better get a grip.
We've no time to spend,
On those that have their doubt.
And, you will walk the plank,
To pay, if you are holdin' out.

I'm CEO Donahoe,
I'm captain, they're the crew.
We're evil pirate idiots,
That do just what we do.
And, we're just gonna do it
No matter what you say,
Doesn't have to make you cents,
We make dollars, anyway.
No, it don't have to make you cents,
We make dollars anyway.

OCTOBER 4, 2008 9:34 P.M.

SICK to Death! wrote:

Ebay is slowly poisoning itself to death! All the Changes are NOT good for sellers or for buyers! Donahoe is a complete IDIOT!

Many great sellers have left ebay, and guess what? Many more are leaving in the next 6 months. Sellers have been run off with all the Feedback crap that Donahoe has instituted. Soon, there wont' by any really Great PowerSellers left to sell.
Ebay is the Titanic!

OCTOBER 5, 2008 3:52 A.M.

Frank Provasek wrote:

When gold coins like Krugerrands are forced to be sold using Paypal or credit cards, rather than certified cheques or money orders, the ebay and paypal fees combined exceed the normal 5% buy/sell spread. Plus the seller is exposed to crooks who mail back a rock and file for a paypal refund...and the seller can't even leave negative feedback! How many sellers want to pay an advertising venue who then tries to force rules on them that are contrary to those policies that have proven successful in their own business?

OCTOBER 8, 2008 5:54 A.M.

Disco Hristo wrote:

I WAS a gold powerseller on eBay. This past month has changed that. Go look at my seller ratings (discohristo) and you will see I am as good as it can get. I have a 99.4% feedback rating. So what's the problem? The problem is i have been suspended indefinitely from selling on eBay because I have failed in the seller compliance policy. Can someone please tell me how in the world I have failed? If my customers are rating me so well, where is the failure? I am getting screwed by eBay because of this and I am having to look for a new job. I would have never thought that I would never be allowed to sell on eBay again after building such an awesome reputation for 8 years. What I did wrong will remain a mystery to me. My top seller account manager refuses to work with me and even told me she "appreciated"... the fact that i was frustrated with eBay's decision to suspend me from selling. My account is active on eBay, but I am restricted from selling. They want me to buy. This only makes me want to leave negatives everytime i buy now with 1 star dsr ratings across the board even if my sellers did a good job. Why would I do such a thing? It's what it's going to take for eBay to realize that their system is seriously flawed. If all sellers have bad ratings, nobody will want to buy. It's that simple. And then there will be no sellers. If there is no sellers, there is no eBay, because WE are who brings the buyers there.

OCTOBER 18, 2008 12:08 A.M.

Jump off now wrote:

If you hold Ebay stock then you havent been doing your due dilligence go to their forums on the Ebay site and you will find countless unhappy Ebay sellers looking desperately for an alternative. Can anyone say -----GOOGLE AUCTIONS-----

OCTOBER 19, 2008 11:26 P.M.

just me again saying my thing wrote:

"To hate eBay so much some of you are here a lot bashing it.

The question is, WHY? "

HERE is WHY!

In a series of interviews, Mr. Donahoe acknowledged that eBay, based in San Jose, Calif., didn’t adapt fast enough to shifting e-commerce winds. He now embraces a “turnaround mind-set” and is refocusing its Web marketplace toward shoppers who don’t want to waste time in online auctions.

“There are times when I wish we can close this store and just open a new store, but we can’t,” he said. “We need to make bolder, more aggressive changes to the eBay ecosystem even if they are unpopular.”

I NEED to sell my things! I AM A POOR NON INCOME OF MY OWN DISABLED HOMEMAKER HE CALLS NOISE! AND HAS KILLED MY JOB! He BLATANTLY is saying WE ARE NOTHING! and our AUCTIONS are nothing!

He wants a store all his own. and we are messed over with all his hand tieing of NEW RULES. so we CAN JUST STAND IN LINE AND BEND OVER FOR THE NEXT ONE!
WHY OH WHY ??? would we keep hanging about?

because WE NEED A JOB! HE RIPPED OUT FROM UNDER US!

WE ARE THE HOMELESS and HUNGRY STAREING IN THE RESTAURANT WINDOW Watching Them GORGING themselves on the FEAST. WE CREATED! THATS WHY!

DECEMBER 27, 2008 3:55 P.M.

Tom Rogers wrote:

To keep posting the number of 100% feedback sellers being removed from eBay is now tearing at my soul..

If Walmart discharges just 500 workers then it becomes front page news, but these workers do get the benefit of at least un-employment insurance .. Since the shake up at eBay with the CEO's new disruptive innovation theory, tens of thousands of decent hard working sellers are now finding them selves out of their job with no benefit of anything ..

When is this going to see the light of day so these people put out of their business can be heard in the public forum? There are hundreds of thousands of single mothers, grand parents, students, families, veterans and disabled Americans that earn most or all their families income from this site who have helped to build the site to what it was at its peak!! For their patriotage they are now finding them selves on the out side looking in for deeds that are outside their control!! As much as we cannot control the weather, nor can we control the time that USPS, UPS, FEDEX or any other out side delivery source will deliver our packages but yet the seller below on this page whose profiles & blog can be seen on the enclosed links .. also, we all would like our parcels to be delivered free where ever possible, But yet the cost is mostly outside the control of the vendor for that service .. But if you use the eBay shipping cost calculator YOU WILL BE BOOTED OFF eBay for excessive shipping cost for charging the actual shipping cost !!!

WHEN IS SOMEBODY GOING TO COME FORWARD AND CHAMPION FOR THESE DISPLACED SELLERS??

THE EBAY SELLERS NEED A HERO & THEY NEED IT NOW!!! Children are going with out eating, our senior sellers are now going with out medicines that they use the sellers profit to pay for, students are dropping out of school because they no longer have their eBay income to help with their educational cost..

My thought is that most people in todays business environment look at these sellers like numbers or widgets on a big business board someplace because they are termed sellers instead of workers! But each individual seller is a live warm breathing person who goes through all the same hardships or more when they are displaced from their selling role for factors outside their control if not more because there is no un-employment relief for these persons or families!!

For God's sake, the economy is in a tumble, it's Christmas time isn't it time for somebody to put this out where it can be heard for what it is!!

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.